Delilah Rene
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Delilah Rene Luke, Born February 15, 1951, almost always simply known as Delilah, is the host of a nationally syndicated nightly U.S. radio song request and dedication program, with an estimated 7 million listeners. She is a native of Reedsport, Oregon.
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The program, known simply as Delilah[1] (or, alternately, as Love Songs with Delilah or Delilah After Dark) begins at 7 p.m. and ends at midnight local time, although a few stations (such as WRCH) air the show from midnight to 5 a.m. She doles out relationship advice between musical requests and describes herself as "the queen of sappy love songs."
One of the cornerstones of Delilah's show is its use of callers. Most of the time the caller tells Delilah their situation or story and then Delilah chooses the song that she feels best matches the caller's situation. She also plays songs by direct request.
Originally heard only on weeknights, stations that carry Delilah now have the option of carrying the show six or even seven nights a week. Nearly all of the stations carrying Delilah broadcast her show at least six nights a week, with many broadcasting it all seven nights of the week.
There are several versions of the program that are available: [2]
- Soft AC: This is the most widely distributed version of the show between January and early November. It airs mostly the usual adult contemporary music. This is the version heard on most stations, including WLTW.
- Hot AC: This version of the show is geared toward a younger audience (such as that of WMYX) and thus features more current hits.
- Canadian: A specially formatted version specifically for stations in Canada. Because of Canadian content requirements, this version has several songs by Canadian artists substituted into the regular playlist. This version was initially only three hours long (although it has since expanded to regular full-show length) and airs on EZ Rock stations such as CJEZ in Toronto and CFMG in Edmonton.
- Christmas music: This is the only version that is produced live between the Friday before Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. It features all Christmas music, mainly because most of the stations that carry the show switch over to the format. Stations that do not switch to Christmas music at that time can receive repeats of previous programs. Likewise, those who change before the Friday before Thanksgiving (such as KOSY-FM) can get repeats of the previous years' Christmas shows until the changeover takes place.
Chevrolet has a sponsorship deal with the show.
The show was originally syndicated by Broadcast Programming in the late 1990s, which was later bought by Jones Radio Networks. Delilah moved to Premiere Radio Networks in 2004, where she remains to this day.
Many of the stations carrying Delilah's show were owned by Premiere parent Clear Channel Communications, which led to speculation that Clear Channel would drop similar locally-produced "lovesongs" programs in New York and Los Angeles in order to place Delilah on the air in the nation's top two radio markets. In November of 2006, WLTW in New York began carrying Delilah, after longtime evening hostess J.J. Kennedy was laid-off as part of a major company-wide layoff at Clear Channel.
Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego, and Detroit are the four largest markets not served by Delilah. KOST in Los Angeles, WLIT in Chicago, KYXY in San Diego, and WNIC in Detroit currently have local evening lovesongs shows on their schedule, although WNIC's competitor WMGC airs John Tesh and had previously aired Delilah from 2001 to 2004. Also, KBIG-FM 104.3 in Los Angeles carried a modified version of Delilah custom-fit to the station's rhythmic AC format from January to September 2007; when the station switched formats, Delilah was dropped. Delilah had aired on WLIT in Chicago for approximately eight years until the program was dropped in favor of a local host in November 2007.
Boston MA doesn't have a "official" Delilah station, however suburban stations that penetrate the Boston metro do carry the show. Also, an affiliation change occurred in Atlanta shortly after Christmas 2006, when Delilah was dropped from Clear Channel-owned WLTM-FM (which was then "94.9 Lite FM") and immediately picked up by Cox-owned main rival WSB-FM ("B98.5FM").
The show's current flagship station is KRWM in Seattle, a station owned by Sandusky Broadcasting.
Usually finishing within the top three radio programs nationwide, the program is especially popular among women between the ages of 25 and 54, the prime demographic in American advertising [2]. While her show has plenty of detractors (she openly mentions being a "born-again Christian", while admittedly not living like one), it also has millions of devoted fans. Delilah shares pieces of her personal life on the air each night, discussing what she and/or her kids did earlier in the day.
She is known for giving advice to the lovelorn (even though she says that her relationships don't usually work out), often with a notable spiritual slant. She is a public advocate of adoption, as four of her kids are adopted. Delilah has written a book called Love Someone Today. Delilah lives in Seattle with the three youngest of her seven children. [1]
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